Predator of the Holy
by Rambo Kirby
Summary: Desolated fragments of beauty graced the fiery landscapes the monster stood before. Oceans of blood wavered under its influence, brooding the antithesis to hope, as it'd soon become a reminiscent ideal of the past. A stairway to heaven beckoned its final call with a bustle in its hedgerow, only to heed Satan's footsteps. Could such a tantalizing future have bestowed itself?
1. Unwelcome Discovery, The Devil Remains

Preface: The story takes place after Trunks returns from the Cell Games, and the beginning of the Final Act for InuYasha.

**Chapter 1: Unwelcome Discovery, The Devil Remains the Same**

* * *

Rivers of blood and carnage bubbled under the stark looming castle of perpetuated darkness. Thunder cemented the skies with trepidation, lightening complimenting its sheer forced grace. The air in contrast was musty and thin, making breathing for humans nearly impossible. Rocks arched up in jags to protect the castle from lowly demons. The archetype itself intimidated the lowly scum of the countryside, furthering the unlikeliness of possible raids. A barrier encapsulated a small shrine on an isolated cliff, hiding the structure from visibility's already faint grasp of the region.

Naraku had intentionally allowed his castle to be sensed from all cardinal directions. His traps echoed through the winds of plains and forests alike. He was daring them to come and attack him, daring them to kill him. The scent of melancholy, of disease, plagued the bordering lands with physical deterioration. Trees winced, birds died, flowers keeled over and people grew ill of various cancers.

Not far off from the trail of devastation, flashes of manic lightening burned through the atmosphere. Magenta and scarlet waves flickered in the hues contained within the dancing plasma. A disturbance in the fabric of the dimension was abstracted, forcing the sky to bleed a final streak of scarlet lightening to the ground. A fresh yellow machine stood adjacent to a mesa, hidden amongst the outwardly stretching abundance of tree branches.

From out of the machine came a young man of a medium stature with purple hair that was parted at his forehead and fell to the top of his ears. He dawned a fuschia jacket that ended half way down his abs, partially concealing a black wife-beater. Gray pants elongated into dulled yellow boots with black tips, truly an alien outfit. Crystal ocean eyes peered into the darkness of the night, scouting for threats. A leather sheath concealed a bulky Medieval European sword, with the darkness melting it into his figure—the sword may had well as been an extension of his body.

The teenager pressed his hand against a large square on the machine, transforming it into a pill that safely hid in the palm of his hand. He retired the capsule to tiny case with several others, all reading different font numbers and colors. As he grimaced to himself while he shoved the case back into his pocket, he felt a few pairs of eyes focusing their gaze on him. Branches teetered and the winds surfed through the grass below him, demons lurked in the countryside, threatening him with their camouflage.

He drew his sword with one hand, scolding the shadows before him. The Moon was hidden, its light masked, thus giving his predators the advantage. He could hear their careless movements—crinkling leaves and subtle vibrations echoed throughout the air. His senses were keen enough to hear the breathing and hisses of several creatures surrounding the vicinity. Seemingly out of nowhere, four creatures jumped from the underbrush, lunging themselves toward him. Before they could react, they were dead. They died midair, their torsos separating from their abdominal areas. He'd thrown his sword like a boomerang, simultaneously slaughtering them at speeds that left burns on the cuts.

"Damn, wasn't him," he whispered under his breath. He'd come looking for something, someone. "I can't sense his aura anywhere, and this world is full of weak creatures that seem like they're masking their chi," he thought as he shifted his head to allow his sword to fall into its sheath.

* * *

"Sit boy!" the high pitch of Kagome's voice boomed into the half-demon's ears with unease as he crashed into the ground.

"Awh ho'wh wo'wh!" he agonized as the animosity from her voice reflected the crater from his body.

"Honestly, you'd think he'd learn by now," the young monk sighed and shook his head.

"You're one to talk!" the demon slayer beside him shrieked as his hand traveled its way to her ass.

"It's not what you think!" he babbled nonsensically before receiving a slap across the face.

"Hey, instead of fighting with your lovers, why don't we go after Naraku!" the minuscule fox demon yelled with his arms folded. The lot of them blushed at his wording, especially InuYasha.

"Yeah, instead of torturing this poor innocent handsome monk, why don't we head after the real lecher that's been terrorizing the lands for some time now," Miroku nodded with his eyes closed and a finger raised.

Sango rolled her eyes and walked out from the aura of pretentiousness surrounding her crush. While she hated to admit it, she found it all rather cute; but she wouldn't grant him the satisfaction of knowing so. As she stepped on the path leading away from the village to the river, she called over to Kirara to follow her. The weather had been unusually humid and warm, although it seemed to affect her the most, given everyone's content in the shade.

"Where're you going Sango?" Kagome asked, bobbing her head up from out of her backpack.

"Oh just to the stream to cool off, I'll be back in 10 minutes or so."

"Oh okay."

Dunking her face in the stream, she felt a euphoria come over her. The Sun was doing more than its job—baking her alive. Kirara dipped her paws in the water, cooling them from the warm ground. She meowed faintly and trotted on the bank nonchalantly. The water flowed rhythmically, as though someone was drinking it all up. The thought parched Sango. As she splashed some water on her face, she felt a dark ominous presence drape over her.

"Kirara!" she yelled as her eyes darted in and out of the treeline. The frail demonic kitty responded by immersing herself in fire, revealing her true form.

"Where's it coming from!? It's everywhere! I hope I'm not the only one that feels this..." her thoughts pulsed like blood through her veins, expediting with every passing moment.

A silver glow barred through the sky, pelting the air around it like a rocket, shredding the fluid like a bomb detonating in each pocket. Sango gazed at the blaring object, mesmerized by its firelight. The sparkles of a magenta mist sprayed her vision as Kagome's arrow nicked its target. The silver exploded in a disperse, leaving a small black dot against the blue backdrop.

"What the hell is that thing?" InuYasha scoffed as he approached Sango from behind.

"I... I don't know..." she gaped, only slightly turning her head.

"Yeah well, whatever it is, it's g-" he began, clutching the hilt of his sword, but stopped mid-sentence as the small black dot disappeared.

"Can I help you people?" the gruff voice of the boy startled the gang of friends.

Shocked expressions infiltrated their faces, leaving no room to the imagination for what their minds were thinking. The young man's composure was strong, heading an emotion of carelessness and steel. The only similar acquittance any of them could make with the young man was Sesshomaru, his eyes stern and stoic with a demeanor that would crack even the hardest of demons. The look in his eyes told them he'd been through something, something no one his age should have ever had to go through.

"Yeah, who the hell are you?" InuYasha chimed out of his dismayed perspective.

"I think I should be asking you people that question, after all, I'm not the one shooting arrows," he held out the broken arrow Kagome had shot into the sky.

"He's not a demon... but his aura is so similar," Kagome's mind reflected absently, her hand unconsciously cupping her bottom lip.

"Yeah well, you don't smell like a human, or a demon, so what the hell are you? I think it's only natural we'd take something so unfamiliar and ballistic as a threat," the half-demon jeered, crossing his arms in contempt.

"Ballistic?" the mysterious youth raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"You were that blinding light in the sky, were you not?" Sango said, pointing to where he'd came from.

"I don't see how that makes me ballistic," he put his left arm on his hip and smirked. "That's just how I travel."

"Well listen pal, why don't you explain what you're doing here, because it seems obvious you're a stranger to these lands," the impatient InuYasha retorted.

"Maybe they could help me stop him... or at the very least them..." he thought, eying out the natives to the strange land he'd entered.

"We'd very much appreciate knowing a bit more about you. As you see, we are faced with the criminal mind of a demon named Naraku. We are, of course, on edge and weary of any newcomers—you must understand this. My friend here, InuYasha, simply suspects you of being one of his incarnations. We cannot be too careful at a time like this, so I'm afraid if you do not cooperate, we'll have to take you in as our enemy," the serene monk articulated with ease, saying what everyone had been thinking.

"My name is Trunks, I'm from a different time period, or so it seems, a different universe," his words cool and collected.

"Oh? And what business is it of yours to come here?" the monk asked solemnly.

Sighing and looking to the ground, Trunks said, "It's a long story, so perhaps you'd all best brace yourselves for stiff joints."

"A time traveler huh? I don't like the sound of that," InuYasha mumbled under his breath while Kagome nodded with haste.

"I come from a world ruled by despair and death. If you can imagine an Earth that would normally have billions of people, one with many great thriving civilizations, being brought down to a population of just over 10,000; surely the picture paints itself," he took a moment to breathe and gather their expressions. "In my world, a pair of Artificial Humans, Cyborgs really, but the term Android works I guess, completely desolated the governments of the world. They're like children with too much power, children that never grew out of their rebellious teenage years."

"So you came looking for help?" Kagome sincerely asked, stepping towards him, much to InuYasha's annoyance.

"No, actually I'm more than capable of destroying them myself now, but something came up..." his tone shifted from depressed to hopeless as he paused. "I'd traveled back in time to warn my father and the world's strongest to prepare themselves. Little did I know that, before me, there'd already been a long chain of time traveling incidents. This was all due to one of the most diabolic creatures ever to come into existence. You see, the Artificial Humans were spawned by an evil scientist by the name of Dr. Gero. Much due to their disobedience and unsatisfactory results, he bioengineered a creature that yearned for the very essence of life," he paused briefly to pondered their reactions. "You see, myself from another time period had gone back to find a weakness in the Artificial Humans. When I'd returned and deactivated them, I was murdered and my time machine was stolen. This led to a chain of time traveling, which I'm hoping to end here and now," his voice had regained its power by the end of his exposition.

"So wait, you're saying this _thing_ came here?" Miroku asked with concern.

"That's right. The Artificial Humans had grown bored of my world, killed my mother in cold blood as she was working on a time machine I'd recovered from the past. She told me to check the coordinates off the computer hooked up to the battery charger to see where they'd gone to—those were her last words. What was so peculiar was the fact that this time seems to be in another dimension, not just outside of the time apex walls," he explained, sitting down on a nearby rock.

"Okay, but what about this monster? How did he get here?" InuYasha asked from seemingly nowhere.

"Well, that's the tricky part. Before I'd prepared for my journey to come here and rid the world of its bleak future, I'd decided to hunt for him, to make sure no more innocent people would die. Unfortunately, in his imperfect state, he's fond of suppressing his energy. Even then, he's still able to move at blazing speeds due to his biological construction. Months and months passed, and all I'd find were the remnants of people's clothes, so I decided to set up a trap. Aside from the time machine I have now, and the one I'd retrieved from the past, my mother had created a backup just in case I'd ever get stranded. I used it as bait for him to come and find me, once he realized his search was futile-" he explained until Miroku interrupted him.

"What do you mean search? Search for humans?"

"Oh, I must've forgotten. His goal for absorbing the humans was simply to gain strength to engulf the Artificial Humans and reach _perfection_," a look of disgust covered their faces as he emphasized perfection. "Being the shrewd creature he was, he managed to seep past my nose and steal my time machine, arriving here about three years ago."

"Three years ago? If these Artificial Humans and creature are as dangerous as you say, then why haven't we encountered them?" InuYasha scolded, as if he'd caught him in one big lie.

"It's not that simple. If we use a series of numbers representing each year, maybe it'll become easier for you all to understand. Let's say that the year my mother was killed and the Artificial Humans came here is 1, then the year he'd stolen my time machine would be 3. Now, the time machine they took arrived here about two months ago, making this time only two months ahead of 1. The back up time machine was calibrated differently, to another time period all together. Why the vertexes reacted in such a way that time flowed into another direction, well that's completely beyond me. He'd traveled to about three years or so before the Artificial Humans' arrival, thus he had time to gestate and grow from the larval form he had to succumb to, much like when we fought him in the past. I don't think it'd matter though, he'd be just as well hidden had he not gotten the time to evolve back into his mature state. So anyway, the time I left from would then be 4, at which I've come two months after what the computer had stated the coordinates were. So in other words, 1 is the middle, 3 is the negative by 4, and 4 is the positive by .16," he breathed a sigh of relief, believing he'd said all there was to say.

"Okay... that makes sense... I guess..." Miroku rubbed the back of his head, perplexed and slightly dazed.

"So, what do these guys all look like? Do they have names?" Kagome finally asked, having wondered the entire time.

"Oh yeah, right—I suppose that's pretty important. The Artificial Humans are named #17 and #18, whereby they look not a day over 20. #17 has black hair that stems down to the bottom of his neck, with piercing blue eyes. He also wears an orange bandana around his neck, accompanied by a black t-shirt with a long sleeved white undershirt; all of which is tucked into a pair of light blue jeans with rips and cuts. The other twin, #18 is identical, but has paler skin, eyes, and blonde hair. She wears a variety of outfits, but from what I last remember, she wore a denim vest and skirt, with black leggings and a black and white shirt-" he tried to continue, but the lecherous monk simply had to confirm his suspicions.

"And you say she's not a day over 20? With soft pale skin?" he coughed briefly.

"Soft? Well I don't know about that..." he rubbed the back of his head confused where he'd gotten soft from.

"That's enough out of you," Sango's look of death matched her vicious attitude that truly frightened the monk.

"You sure do know a lot about their appearances," Kagome added in.

"How can I not, when you see their faces every night in your nightmares, it becomes hard to not memorize their apparel."

"Uhm... yeah..." she felt an aura of regret pull over her.

"What about this creature? What's he called?" the little fox demon that'd been listening from the shore asked.

"Oh right. His name is Cell; he's a synthesized collection of cells from the strongest fighters on Earth during my father's youth. When his development finished, he became an eight-foot tall insect looking monster. When he ate up #17 in the past, he became more humanoid, and a whole lot uglier. Thereafter devouring #18 though, he became perfect, by which his power grew so tremendously, that it was pure luck we managed to stop him. I can only hope that we can stop him from ever achieving his final form like he did in the past," Trunks stood and stretched, hoping to have answered all their questions.

"So this Cell is from your time-line, and the one in the past was from another Trunks' future?" Miroku wished to confirm.

"That's right, yeah."

"Great, now we have to deal with this Cell guy on top of Naraku," InuYasha emphasized his wording on Cell in specific, agitated at the extra workload.

"Now that I've explained my burden, care to explain who this Naraku is?" Trunks surprised the group with his inquisition.

"Oh, well, you see..." Miroku began.

* * *

A swift wind blew through the trees as branches broke and leafs fell. Long, strident, lime green legs bolted off the ground and onto the covers of trees, back and forth. From ravines to cliffs, to rivers and marshes, evil beckoned its will with a blur. The air creaked with fear as any sensible creature in its vicinity coward in fear, even demons of large statures. The spreading trepidation produced an eerie silence, one that screamed a monster was on the loose.

"These villages are so petty; they're almost not worth it," it bellowed with its arm resting on its knee. It was stalking a settlement of no more than 100 people from a hillside. The people shuddered. The air became dim and impassive, lamenting its arrival. "I'll have to be quick about this meal, given Trunks seems to have followed me; that impudent boy."

* * *

"So that's about it, I think..." Kagome finished, looking up at the sky.

"I see," Trunks looked at them all pensively.

"You will join us, won't you?" Sango hesitantly asked.

He looked at her curiously. "Well, maybe..." he thought aloud.

"I don't see why not, seeing as you'll have a better chance of ascertaining the whereabouts of this Cell, or... Cyborgs. Wait, I forgot to ask, what's a cyborg?" Miroku scratched his reddening cheek.

"Yeah, what's this Artificial Human deal?" InuYasha peered away, feeling he should have known the answer.

Kagome nearly fell over at her friends' ignorance, but came to realize there was no way they should know what a cyborg was. "It's a blend of machine and human. Like a half-breed," she reasoned so that they'd understand.

"Oh, why didn't you say so?" InuYasha felt as though he knew the answer the entire time, and it was Trunks' wording that created the problem.

"Well..." Trunks paused, rubbing the back of his head, "I suppose I could travel with you all, so long as you don't slow me down," he said with a smirk of virtue.

"Don't worry about that, if anything it'll be the other way around," InuYasha boasted with a thumb to his chest.

"Admittedly, I'm anxious to meet this Naraku. I doubt he's any stronger than Freeza, or anywhere close to be honest, seeing that he doesn't seem capable from destroying the planet based on what you've all told me," he said as he brushed his bangs from his forehead casually.

"Freeza?" they all asked simultaneously.

"He was an alien that I killed when he sought revenge on a friend of mine, Son Goku. His power was spectacular, but not compared to my father or I. His cells were also harvested, giving Cell all his abilities, unfortunately."

"Interesting. So you say that the villains from your time, or universe, have the abilities to blow up entire planets?" Miroku cupped his chin with his eyes closed.

"Yeah, most at least. I don't think #17 or #18 would even know where to begin though," Trunks replied, shifting his eyes to the ground.

"You said earlier that you couldn't sense Cell because he was able to conceal himself—what about them?" Kagome inquired.

"They hold an unnatural energy source, so there's no way for me to find them, besides following their trail of devastation," he clutched his fist with anger at his inabilities.

"Alright, enough of this dribble. Everyone here has something to offer, and I ain't got a problem with you join' us and to help, but what can you do?" InuYasha took several steps forward with a scowl.

"Sit boy!" Kagome yelled, her eyes shut and blood boiling.

"Why'hi'yi!?" he groaned.

"It doesn't matter what he can do, stop being so rude," she lectured, looking down at him as though he were actually a dog.

"I don't get it—why did he fall over?" Trunks looked at the two, his eyes widened.

"It's the necklace he wears, it basically gives Kagome control over him when he acts out... the rest really doesn't matter though," Sango tried to explain, sweat drops forming on the back of her neck.

* * *

"Hihehihekehaka," Cell exhaled, admiring its handy work. Fires surrounded the village as its scornful chuckle bounced around the wind as though it were the laugh of Satan himself.

"Hm, it appears this world conceals demonic presences—how interesting," it wondered aloud, smirking at the prospect of possibly stealing the bio-extract from stronger creatures.

"You there!" an ogre with a large club bellowed towards the fearsome biological construct.

"How perfect," it hissed with pleasure.

"This village was to sacrifice a maiden to me! How dare you murder my sexual play things, and dinner!" the ogre screamed, the veins in his forehead bulging from rage.

Cell merely turned its head and let out a drop of acid from its tail, agitating the food before it. With a single strike, the nozzle of its tail injected itself into the ogre's chest. His lung was punctured, and his eyes were straining forward with popped blood vessels; he was going to die. The club fell to the ground alongside his clothes, rather good or evil, Cell hadn't a care in the world for such a cardinal dictum. Its foot crushed the club to its side, feeling the faint, but newly acquired power.

"These demons house much more energy than the humans do, at least three times as much. Kah! Prepare yourselves 17 and 18! I'm comin' for you! Kuhehahuhahaheheha!" the beast echoed inwardly, taking off from the scene—lest he be caught by someone aware of his presence.

* * *

"Kagura, I'd like you to do me a favor, alright?" the sickly demon asked, although she knew she didn't have a say in the matter.

"What?" she venomously responded, turning her head to him.

"It appears a new demon has been lurking amongst the countryside—I feel its body could be quite useful," he slithered, never blinking.

"So what the hell do you want me to do about it?" she yelled, her brows forwarded.

"I'm unfortunately unable to locate anything more than rumors on what exactly it is, or where it's from," he paused to breathe, "Therefore I'd like you to take Kanna with you and search for the serpentine-like creature—from what I've heard at least that's what it looks like. It has a very distinctive scent, a foreign one, perhaps from the continent; so I'm sure you'll know it when you see it."

"Yeah, then what?" she closed her eyes in disbelief at the stupidity of his request.

"Then I'll come and integrate its body into mine, such is so simple, surely even you of all people won't manage to screw it up. Besides, if you were to ruin this opportunity for me, I'd hate to see what would happen to your heart..." he trailed off, manifesting a throbbing red mass into his palm, squeezing it slightly.

"K'ughk!" she kneeled in pain, clutching her chest.

* * *

"What happened here!?" Kagome ran forward to the scattered clothes on the ground.

"Damn, we're too late!" Trunks blamed himself.

"Huh, so this is what happens to his victims? How interesting..." Miroku exclaimed as he analyzed the singular hole punctured in a shirt.

"This couldn't have happened too long ago, he must be somewhere close, but damn, finding him in the forest is suicide!" Trunks yelled, clenching his fists in dismay.

"Hey don't worry about it, alright? I bet I can pick up his sent and we'll catch him in no time!" InuYasha reassured the peculiar youth.

"Oh, InuYasha..." Kagome thought to herself in a daze.

"Let's see..." the half-demon sniffed the hole in a few people's clothing, trying to obtain a common smell.

"Got it! This way!" he pointed east of them, feeling proud of himself.

* * *

"Damn that Naraku... I don't even know what I'm looking for!" Kagura sighed to herself, hoping to find whatever demon he was looking for.

"Kagura, who are they?" Kanna asked mechanically.

"Huh?" she peered down from her feather at two teenagers standing amidst a series of burned buildings. "They're just humans aren't they?" she wondered why Kanna had bothered to ask her such a trivial question.

"Don't be so sure, they're not of this world; Naraku has told me," she held her mirror steadily with Naraku's face phasing onto the crystalline surface.

"It'd be wise of you to listen her, Kagura," his voice commented with dripping blood and vigor, enough to swarm a herd of chills down her backside.

"Fine, whatever," she muttered as she landed in front of the two teenagers.

"Hey 18, this might be fun. I was beginning to think this world was even boring'er than the last one," #17 said with a smirk as he placed his hand on his hip.

"Ugh, finally! I was about to regret blowing up that worthless piece of scrap that we came here in," #18 reacted, moving a few strands of hair behind her left ear.

"Looks like Naraku was right... these two definitely aren't from around here," she thought while carefully training her eyes on them.

"Woman, tell us your name," the pompous youth ordered.

"And just who the hell do you think you are!?" she yelled, bringing out her fan to attack the two.

"That won't be necessary Kagura," Naraku belled as he morphed through the mirror Kanna held.

"What's that... thing?" #18 asked in disgust; she hated insect-looking freaks.

"My name is Naraku, and I hate to break it to the both of you, but you're about to become apart of me!" he uttered as he charged the two.

"Ah! Naraku! He's out in the open! And close!" InuYasha shouted as he changed his direction of running.

"We'll have better luck dealing with Naraku right now, as it seems, this Cell character is miles from us at the moment!" Miroku yelled as he followed in suit.

"What an odd power I'm sensing... Could this Naraku be as weak as I think he is?" Trunks pondered, bolting instantly and matching his speed to the group just ahead of him.

* * *

"Come now, you don't honestly think such a worthless specimen as yourself could take on the perfect warrior! Do you? Hah!" #17 boasted as he easily dodged all of the sideshow demon's attacks.

A tentacle from the ;eft, the leg of a centipede from the right, all of his jabs were useless, with neither Artificial Human showing signs of tiring. Becoming desperate, Naraku unleashed a barrage of throbbing roots from his baboon pelt, sending them all at the brother and sisterly duo.

"It'll take more than that for you to even make a dent in us, you worthless scum!" #18 felt her stomach churn as the revolting roots gestured her.

"I'm growing bored of this, let's just kill this animal!" #17 declared as his left hand began to glow.

"What's this?" Naraku asked himself aloud, his eyes shifting towards the energy forming at the boy's palm.

"Don't think you can get away from us this time, Naraku!" InuYasha roared as Kagome launched an arrow from atop his back.

"Great, just the morons I wanted to deal with," Kagura complained as she prepared her fan.

"No, not yet," Naraku ordered, ushering her to lower her defense; she nodded hesitantly to comply.

"Are those...?" Sango looked to Trunks for an answer.

"That's right—numbers 17 and 18."

"You couldn't have arrived at a better time!" the echo of Naraku's laughter was cut short as #17's blast hit him full force, emitting a blinding light that forced everyone to shield their eyes.

Kagura was blasted away into the trunk of a tree, while Kanna was hurled into thorns and underbrush with her mirror. A demon puppetry stick lied on the ground with no life, burnt to a crisp. The two Artificial Humans plainly laughed at the effortless attack that destroyed their competitor. Gazes met their chaotic smiles as the vast amounts of smoke began to dissipate.

"What the fuck was that about..." InuYasha trembled in his mind, shaking from the impact of the blast, shivers traveling down his spinal cord like children on a water-slide during winter.

"Well look who it is 18—Trunks. Long time no see pal, huh?" the Cyborg sarcastically said as Trunks' eye twitched.

* * *

"They're close! Fehahemwhakehak," Cell joyously exclaimed in its mind, traversing through the brush towards the lingering smoke above the trees. Its eyes sharpened, creating an ample juxtaposition with its path every step of the way. "What's this?" it stopped on a rock sticking up from a stream, standing up straight with perfect posture. "So Trunks has friends," the sounds of the water ceased as its surroundings faded to black.

Only demons of miniscule intelligence would try their luck against such a brooding atrocity. A curse of venom swayed in the skies, its presence was that of the Devil incarnate—truly a creature with no place in such a world. Its insect armor gleaming in the Sun's light, an angelic oxymoron belittled the perplexed demons' intellectual abilities.

"He's far too powerful for me to overcome just yet, but I'm sure making an appearance wouldn't hurt, sehahuhaseuhkeh!" the slit pupil in its eyes widened briefly and soon thereafter shrunk as its legs bolted off the rock and into the forest.


	2. Faith in a Dream, Trunks

**Chapter 2: Faith in a Dream, Trunks Being for the Benefit of Mr. Cell**

* * *

"So you managed to follow 'nd find us after all," #18 sadistically giggled.

"At least now we might actually have somewhat of a challenge, not that I'd boast your imprudent skills too far, human," #17 mocked with his arms folded.

"M'uh... What the hell happened...?" Kagura's body swayed upwards, her vision spinning.

"Care to enlighten us on who your little friends are, Trunks?" #17 opened his eyes, smirking pleasingly.

Without indecision, he unsheathed his sword, darting towards the pompous #17. His movements appeared a blur of yellow, streaming a reflection through everyone's eyes. Time slowed as he sped. The wind broke in two, whistle the pensive Cell concealed itself in the shrouds of distraction. His sword was seen briefly, flashing a lightened silhouette that left an after image for but a second. InuYasha's eyes caught the glimpse just barley, unnerving him due to the sheer velocity heeding warning towards thee two teens.

"Hm... If I don't intervene, my ticket to becoming complete may lose itself," Cell thought quickly as the sword went straight through #17.

Blood trickled down the blade like vines crawling their way down an aged tree. #17's eyes were widened, his irises paled. Just as slowly as time seemed to regain its composure, it died down once more to the beholders of the scene. Spurts of groans accompanied by blood being coughed onto the ground complimented his weary disposition.

"His hair... It's blond..." Kagome whispered aloud, awestruck.

Taking the sword out from the wound, Trunks kicked the young man in the chin, forcing it to push his bottom lip over his top. He rolled and tumbled until he landed safely in a bush, whereby Cell's snickering could be heard. Trunks' eyes widened, his pupils shrinking. That laugh. The laugh of evil, of torment. He'd been right there the entire time, but he hadn't noticed. How foolish could he have been?

"Oh how grateful I am for you to have bestowed upon me such a harvest," its snickering biting their skin like a cobra sinking its fangs into its prey. "I highly doubt I'll have the time to absorb #17 with Trunks speed being so adamant, so I'll just have to muse a little while longer, hehkuhaheha," it grimaced at the battered Artificial Human in front of him.

"I take it that's Cell?" Miroku confirmed more than asked.

"Yeah, that disgusting freak..." Trunks, while still more than twice as strong as the Cell before him, was anxious due to the injured prey nearest his second greatest fear.

"Surely you couldn't have been this sloppy, Trunks? You wouldn't want me drinking from the ceremonious wine after sniffing the wedding bouquet so soon, would you?" the fauna teased with delight.

"I wouldn't even think about touching either of them if I were you!" Trunks gripped the handle of his weapon, #17's blood reaching his fingers.

"17..." #18 muttered as she held her palm over her chest, with both pale cerulean eyes reflecting the thinly sliced pupil the behemoth possessed.

"I see you have a new sword—how interesting. It was to my understanding you'd left it in the past? Perhaps you'd broken it? No matter, a weapon is useless against that of a god!" Cell bellowed, picking up #17 with minimal effort.

"This guy's one hell of a creep—Kagome stay close!" InuYasha growled, tensing his legs and preparing to grip the tang of his sword.

Noticing the drama in front of her, Kagura approached the silky haired blonde apprehensively. "InuYasha and his band of fools seem truly frightened... but over this girl and her boyfriend?" she thought, taking small steps. Several feet away, she noticed what everyone's attention was selected on. Immediately chills crawled like roaches on her backside, causing her to stumble forward to her knees. "I haven't felt this spooked since Naraku held me captive for rebelling—is this the creature he wanted me to find...?" she wondered aloud, drawing in #18's attention.

"Y-yo-y-you do-don't h-h-hon-nestly think y-you c-c-ca-can bea-" #17 tried to speak, sweat pouring into the various pools of blood scattered across his face, but was interrupted by a sharp elbow to his neck.

"17!" #18 cried, taking a step forward, clenching her fist. Cell's tongue licked the edges of its beak as its eyes shifted to the frail woman.

"Huh? What's with these people..." Kagura pondered to herself, disgusted by Cell's show of craving.

"Enough! I'll kill all three of you right here! You're all the same, murderers! I don't care if one of you changed in another time—it makes no difference!" Trunks screamed as he dashed towards Cell, his arm in full swing.

"Surely you jest; you insolent child," the beast muttered as he heaved #17 into the air and sprinted towards #18. His fist connected with her stomach, knocking the wind out of her, surprising Trunks enough to stop him dead in his tracks.

"I don't understand what's happening, do any of you?" the little fox demon asked to no avail.

Cell chuckled to the group, grabbing #18 by her hair, "It matters not if you slay these two, I will kill you Trunks, one way or another. Soon my power will grow enough to exceed yours, whereby your time machine will enter my possession once more. You won't leave, not with me on the loose; nor will you destroy your only way home, heh. While I'd initially planned on integrating the two Artificial Humans here, I came to realize not too long ago actually, that I will have an infinite amount of chances to do so. So kill them, both of them, it makes no difference to me, I can't stop you, yet; but we could avoid this mess all together you know. How 'bout it Trunks? Allow me to reach my full potential here and now, and perhaps, just maybe, I'll spare your miserable life," it articulated with a hint of Vegeta's voice in its pitch.

"Damn! I've only been here a little while, and he's been able to come up with all that... only recently sensing my aura? He's just too damn devious in this form—not even Piccolo was able to out smart him—why did I ever think I could've..." Trunks beat himself up, but refused to let his golden aura die down. Feigning confidence the youth retorted with a bloodlust, "And what makes you so sure I won't just kill you here and now? Because the option feels pretty appealing to me right now," Trunks licked his lower lip.

"Peh, fool. Do you really think I wouldn't be able to escape from you? Perhaps I may even be able to take an Artificial Human with me before you take their lives away," Cell laughed as it clutched #18's head harder.

"Let her go!" Kagome shrieked as she fired an arrow at the impending desolation.

"My, what a charming young woman you are. It's unfortunate you've made such a desperate attempt to impress me for our first meeting, seeing such a pitiful arrow try to even remotely-" it remarked with a slither in its throat, only to be cut short by Trunks' sword slicing off the arm holding #18.

"He did it!" Sango exclaimed, raising a fist to the air.

"Yeah! Way to go!" Miroku jumped slightly.

"Well alright, looks like we didn't have to get involved after all," InuYasha sighed in relief.

"It's not dead, what are those morons cheering about?" Kagura gazed at the creature's still standing body adjacent to her. She'd been too frozen to move, something that only Naraku had been able to accomplish beforehand.

"Behaukehuhahuhbahuha!" Cell shrilled, mocking Trunks' attempt to disarm him. "Have you already forgotten?" it soothed, grunting inaudibly thereafter. To everyone's shock, it'd regrown its arm, with marginal effort at that.

"No, I didn't forget. I just wanted your filthy hands off her. I'm not going to let you ruin this future, Cell!" Trunks spun his sword in a 360 as he prepared to crash the steel into the girl's paralyzed body.

"Sit boy!" Kaogme cried out, hoping to save the girl.

"Wh'hi'yi'oh'ow!" InuYasha moaned, his face planted in the ground.

"Oh... sorry..." Kagome blushed in embarrassment.

"W-wait!" #17 yelled, dragging his hunched body towards the battlefield. "Please, don't kill #18, take me instead!" he begged, limping to Trunks.

"He's... begging for mercy, for her life... Dammit! Why do I feel empathy for these, these machines!" he scorned himself internally, peering briefly over to the bleeding mass of carnage behind him.

"Perfect, hehuhukuh," it complimented itself in thought, with its mouth opening to an incredulous grin. "I hate to end things so prematurely my boy, but everything's working out a course for the better! Kuhauhehuhaheha!" Cell screeched as it ascended in front of the Sun.

"Shit! Everyone shield your ey-" Trunks managed to get out before a blazing light from the Sun blinded everyone.

* * *

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin hollered from afar.

"What is it Rin?" he asked indifferently.

"I caught Master Jaken talking bad about you!"

"My Lord! It is simply untrue! The girl fabricates lies to-" the little green demon heaved, coming up from the cliff, only to be met with a swift kick to send him back where he'd came from.

"Let us go," he stoically said to anyone listening.

As Jaken managed to catch up with them, Sesshomaru felt a cold draft pass through him, despite no wind. His movements faded into a still frame, like a photo, much to his underlings wonderment. His golden irises peered left and then right, at first unsure of the direction he was sensing.

"I will be back," Sesshomaru said as he took to the air in an orb of light.

* * *

"I'm starting to regain my vision!" Miroku exclaimed as he felt the blur wearing off.

"As am I..." Sango responded, moving her hand in front of her face.

"This Cell guy sure is one hell of a coward!" InuYasha yelled looking at the sky.

"17! Are you okay!?" #18 rushed to her brother's side.

"Shit... what am I gonna do with these two? I can't just let them live! Cell was banking on this, damn! They're murderers, they've committed genocide, yet the slightest show of emotion prevents me from finishing them off. What would Goku or Gohan do at a time like this... Wait. Gohan gave Cell numerous chances to give up so he wouldn't have to kill him, despite all he'd done," the time traveler nudged his head away from the two Artificial Humans as he broke from his reverie.

"I better get outa here while I still can," Kagura scowled as she wisped a feather from her hair, taking to the skies.

"She seems awful desperate to get away..." Kagome commented, her pupils following the feather out of range.

"Leave her be, we have more important matters at the moment," Miroku motioned to the two Artificial Humans on the ground.

"Give me two reasons I shouldn't kill you both right here and now—one from each of you," Trunks glowered like a tower, shadowing the two as though they were ants.

Neither could give a reason, they only looked in horror at their reaper's facial expression. The once dominant twins of power, the once feared tormenters of the world, were reduced to being nothing more than children begging for mercy. All the thoughts of such sickened the two, leaving them to frown back at their enemy.

"I'll... take you on, don't th-think I'm d-done just yet!" #17 stammered as he took to a fighting stance in front of Trunks. He was hunched over, breathing heavily, his shirt ripped and stained with blood. Not one thing on his body was in place. His ribs looked broken, his hair was a mess with strands flying in multiple directions, and to top it all off, he was still bleeding from Trunks' stab wound.

"Pathetic," the purple haired boy turned his back to #17, shaming him for even attempting such an objective.

"He sure is one hell of a fighter," Miroku mumbled to his friends, as they all looked in awe.

"Feh, as if I'd be put down by a stab wound, he's not even on Naraku's level. Although that Cell guy... he just might..." InuYasha swashed, only to recede into a whisper.

"Just kill us," #18 suddenly interjected, causing Trunks to turn back around. "Just kill us!"

Trunks lowered his eyes to the slightly worn girl before speaking, "You seem in an awful rush to die, now don't you?"

The travesty of her words echoed back at her, making her glance at her half-dead, but standing brother. "We don't need your pity, so just go ahead and finish us off!"

"I'm too far above the likes of you two to sink so low," Trunks scolded, walking back towards the group.

"What's with that guy?" #17 thought to himself as he collapsed next to his sister.

"Are you just going to let them go?" Kagome asked, perplexed by his decision, not that she wanted the two to die.

"No, I can't do that, otherwise I'll play right into Cell's hand. They have to come with us, but I can't stand the sight of either, so..." Trunks sighed, unsure of where his wording was heading.

* * *

"It was dangerous to coax him into possibly demolishing my philistine counterparts, but no matter, he's played into my palm perfectly. Knowing the boy, he would strand himself if it meant saving another world from me... feh," it reflected as its tail gulped down the last of what used to be a large panther demon.

"You there," a whisper barley met its eardrums.

"Hm? One of the girls from earlier," Cell pondered in confusion as to how the girl had found him.

"You would be wise for you to give yourself to Naraku," she approached the towering insect looking freak.

"How kind of you to warn, however I am afraid no such heed shall be obliged,"

"You are not a creature of this world, are you? I think not," Kanna fearlessly continued, stopping a mere several feet away.

"Careful now, little girls should mind their manners," Cell licked its lips inexorably.

"Naraku intends to absorb you into his being. He is as to you, whom you have never met, but a monster of no particular form. He wishes to assimilate your body as means of polymerizing the shikon jewel's power."

"Shikon jewel?" its eyes lessened as its arms crossed.

Kanna eyed the swerving tail behind it, careful not to provoke its stinger. "It is a jewel of extravagant power, one capable of ruing the world with its legion of death," the little girl tightened her grip ever so slightly on the mirror she held.

"How interesting, definitely something to look into; however, for now I have no need for hearsay. Perhaps I'll spare the girl for now," it thought with its tail wavering behind it.

* * *

Nightfall had forsaken the land, allowing all sorts of demons and monsters to prowl the land in search of prey. The moon lit the irenic meadow where InuYasha and friends had decided to camp, however dimly. The hillside sloped into thorns and underbrush, indenting almost as sharp as a mountainside.

"Hey," Kagome gently said, sitting next to the distraught Trunks.

"Huh? Hey..." he trailed off as he turned his head to her, wondering why she'd bothered to speak with him so late.

"Don't be too upset about them having to tag along with us; they don't seem that bad," Kagome gave a reassuring smile.

"That bad? _That_ bad? Really? You don't know anything about them," he flouted, turning his head away from her.

"Look, I know you don't have good memories of them, but everyone deserves a second chance..." she arched her brows and pouted.

Sighing, he leaned back into the grass with hands acting as a cradle to his head. "I'm all too aware of such a circumstance I'm afraid," he mocked himself playfully.

"Things'll get better, don't worry..." she cheered softly before thinking to herself, "...I hope."

"So long as I don't have to communicate with them, I'll be fine," he smiled to himself. "A world without Gero's disgusting creations is more than enough to motivate me," he ended his thoughts as he dozed off.

* * *

"Ho-hum, what a droll development. A creature that's broken the time apex's vertices intends on becoming the perfect biological system, yada yada, etcetera, etcetera," the mellow vibrations voiced through the hot pools of water.

"Sounds like a personal problem," a long bearded man sighed in annoyance.

"Most definitely—so go squander with the humans' problems somewhere else," a youthful feminine voice agreed.

"We transcend time, yet he worries of mortals, how preposterous!" the ruffed voice of an older man joked.

"Hn, yet you all belittle yourselves with the subjectivity of plebeians," the same bored voice that started the waves of insults countered. "Lest you all forget more than humans reside amongst the living and dead," the words taunted, fading into the steam of nullity.


End file.
